Searay 250 martinique
Seaman
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2016
- Messages
- 65
Hi everyone,
Last time I?ve been navigating in lumpy seas (4/5 feet steep waves), the boat was thumping hard. When I opened the cabin door there was 5 gallons of water in the salon, the carpet was flooded !
I checked every thru hull, window, I dived to check if there was a crack in the hull? Nothing. And then I saw a gap in the front part of the hull/deck joint, below the white plastic bumper? Time to check what?s hidden below this thing?
And here?s what I discovered :
Here?s some picture with everything unscrewed and cleaned up :
The fix I made :
I caulked the gap generously with 3M 5200 sealant (the toughest I know of). I also caulked the harwood boards.
Press the boards in the gap (I used 1 to 2 layers) and wipe the excess of sealant spurting out.
For mechanical fixation I initially wanted to thru-bolt the hull and deck, but it?s a nearly impossible job.
I incidentally discovered that the original screws did not came off the fiberglass hull but were in fact broken in half, and the tip was still holding well in the hull part.
So what I did was replace the screws by bigger ones (0.2in x 1-3/4in) that I planted every 6in.
The screws are very hard to set, you must pre-drill the holes and use a electric screwdriver to do the job.
This mechanical fix must be about 4 times stronger than the original configuration now, not counting the 3M5200 caulking.
To make things even better, I also caulked the plastic bumper after reassembly, to prevent water entering behind it.
I really think that the joint is now bulletproof !
All in all, I used 50 0.2in. screws + 8 3M5200 cartridges. I re used the screws to assemble the plastic bumper and the stainless plate.
Here?s some photos of the job done :
Hope it helps !
Last time I?ve been navigating in lumpy seas (4/5 feet steep waves), the boat was thumping hard. When I opened the cabin door there was 5 gallons of water in the salon, the carpet was flooded !
I checked every thru hull, window, I dived to check if there was a crack in the hull? Nothing. And then I saw a gap in the front part of the hull/deck joint, below the white plastic bumper? Time to check what?s hidden below this thing?
And here?s what I discovered :
- - The stainless plate is screwed on the white plastic cover with phillips oval head screws size 0.138 inch x 1-1/4 : about 1 every 6 inch
- - The white plastic cover is screwed on the fiberglass deck with phillips oval head screws size 0.138 inch x 1-1/4 : about 1 every 8 inch
- - and the hull to deck joint is assembled with phillips oval head screws size 0.138 inch x 1-1/4 : about 1 every 12 inch !
- Between the hull and deck, there was polyur?thane sealant.
- In the front half of the boat, nearly 80% of the hull/deck screws were broken.
- There?s a gap between the deck and the hull in the half front part of the boat of ? inch, due to bad molds.
Here?s some picture with everything unscrewed and cleaned up :
The fix I made :
- Clean and sand everything good, remove the broken screws
- Mask tape the gap and protect your hull for a messy job
- Filling the gap between hull and deck : you have to remove every play between the hull and deck at assembly, so doing only a recaulking would be useless.
I caulked the gap generously with 3M 5200 sealant (the toughest I know of). I also caulked the harwood boards.
Press the boards in the gap (I used 1 to 2 layers) and wipe the excess of sealant spurting out.
- Finish by doing a good caulking of the joint filling every gap you see. Let it dry.
For mechanical fixation I initially wanted to thru-bolt the hull and deck, but it?s a nearly impossible job.
I incidentally discovered that the original screws did not came off the fiberglass hull but were in fact broken in half, and the tip was still holding well in the hull part.
So what I did was replace the screws by bigger ones (0.2in x 1-3/4in) that I planted every 6in.
The screws are very hard to set, you must pre-drill the holes and use a electric screwdriver to do the job.
This mechanical fix must be about 4 times stronger than the original configuration now, not counting the 3M5200 caulking.
To make things even better, I also caulked the plastic bumper after reassembly, to prevent water entering behind it.
I really think that the joint is now bulletproof !
All in all, I used 50 0.2in. screws + 8 3M5200 cartridges. I re used the screws to assemble the plastic bumper and the stainless plate.
Here?s some photos of the job done :
Hope it helps !